Tobias - Dial

Tobias - Dial
The grainy 808 on the cover sets out Tobias' stall from the outset - not a whiff of idiot electro round these parts. What you get instead are four carefully considered cuts designed squarely for the floor with an eye on the past and a finger on the pulse.

Lead track 'Dial' - featured on Cassy's fab 'Panoramabar 01' mix - is essentially a follow-up to his sleeper hit from last year, 'Street Knowledge'. This time around it's 'Street Knowledge II - Return of the Juggernaut Bassline' - the thundering, snaking b-line kicks the door in at the start and never relents. Everything else - the flanged 808 work, the subtle surges and smart buried-in-the-mix pads - is just window-dressing: it's all about the looping bottom-end groove on this excellent DJ tool/weapon. 'Violence' is built on the sparest of components - reverbed drums and heavily reverbed white noise - but the way it sucks you in and gradually implodes into nothing is quite compelling. Especially with the headphones on. On your own. In the dark.

The polar opposite cuts on the flip reveal a different side to this veteran producer/sound engineer - a side we'd like to see more of. 'Below Houston' - which also cropped up on Cassy's mix - owes a large debt classic deep house, but this comes with a welcome twist. Imagine 'Son Of Raw' given a boot up the bum - the twinkly, reverbed keys, stabbed organ and clipped drums and skippy hats ride a muted bassline, complemented by haunting keys and chopped emcee samples. Marvelous. 'Second To None' continues the NYC theme, the hypnotic reduced stabs contrasting nicely the darker details as flanged percussion swirls through the mix.